National sports day to be celebrated across India on Aug 29

Bangalore, Aug 27: National Sports Day will be celebrated across the country on Aug 29 to commemorate the birth anniversary of Indian hockey legend Dhyan Chand.

Various sporting events such as walkathon and football tournaments will be held across the country for the first time as a part of the celebrations, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said on Tuesday.

FICCI has also planned many sports activities in multiple cities through out India on August 29 with the help of Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports Authority of India All India Council of Physical Education, Association of Indian Universities and Asian Football Development Project.

"Plan for the National Sports day celebration was conceived last year. We hope that this would play a pivotal role in overall development and growth of the nation," said Sanjiv Paul, Chairman of FICCI sports committee.

The government has also planned many programmes to spread sports to every corner of the country by creating a nation wide awareness about the fruitful side of sports.

"We need to build a sports culture in the country and should take sports as seriously as the other sporting nation do. Our sports person do not get the respect that they deserve," Onkar Kedia, Joint secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports said.

OneIndia News

(with PTI inputs)

FIFA, which sees India as the next big stage for football, has also welcomed this programme.